Alex Webb & Rebecca Norris Webb Q&A

Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb, a photographic team who often work on books
and exhibitions together, co-curated the exhibition 'Blue' at the center for
Fine Art Photography in Ft. Collins, Colorado.

Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb, a creative team who often work on books and exhibitions together, co-curated the current “Blue” exhibition at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Ft. Collins, Colorado. The couple will also have an exhibition from their joint book, “Violet Isle: A Duet of Photographs from Cuba,” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from May 2011 to January 2012. The couple is currently working on two upcoming books: Alex Webb has an upcoming book of 30 years of his photographs, called “The Suffering of Light” (essay by Geoff Dyer), which will be published late spring from Aperture (Thames & Hudson, UK edition), and there will be an exhibition/book launch at the Magnum Print Room in London in June. Rebecca Norris Webb’s third book, “My Dakota,” will be published next year by Radius Books. The Webbs’ joint blog is called, “Two Looks”.

What's the greatest picture you didn’t take?

AW: I've missed so many pictures over the years –– it's impossible to say.

RNW: A portrait of my older brother, Dave –– capturing some of his good-natured humor, his love of people, his generosity –- before he died unexpectedly.

Which photographer would you most like to (a) work with and (b) talent spot

AW: a) I like working with my wife, the photographer Rebecca Norris Webb; I can't imagine collaborating with anyone else. b) I'm not sure I have the talent to "talent spot."

RNW: (a) Alex’s and my marriage survived our first book collaboration ––“Violet Isle” –– so we’re starting to explore a second one. (b) I’m a photography teacher as well as photographer. How can you ask me to choose just one talented photographer?

If you hadn't have become a photographer what would you have like to have been?

AW: I considered becoming a novelist. Fortunately, I chose photography. I've found the world I've photographed these past 30 years is often stranger and more confounding than anything I could ever have imagined.

RNW: Caretaker of an organic apple orchard or independent filmmaker

Do you have a life philosophy?

AW: I've never thought I did, but in recent years I've been very taken with the following from the sculptor Henry Moore at the end of a long, productive life: "The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most important thing is, it must be something you cannot possibly do."

RNW: Listen to your photographs. They are often wiser than you are.

How do you germinate ideas for your work?

AW: I don't usually come up with ideas. Ideas seem to emerge out of the process of walking and photographing. I rarely set out with a clear idea of what I am going to do in mind –– in fact I prefer it this way, so that I am open to discovery. So the process is somewhat mysterious. Projects seem to happen almost of their own volition.

RNW: Reading poetry. Writing in bed half-awake in the mornings. Reading more poetry. Keeping a small notebook for gathering phrases and images that get under my skin.

You in three words:

AW: Sisyphus with Leica

RNW: Maker of books

What advice would you give to your 16 year old self?

AW: Find something you love to do –– and stay with it.

RNW: Keep making those handmade books of text and images. Consider using more of your own writing next time…